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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Weekend Box Office for August 30 - September 1: One Direction is #1

Morgan Spurlock's concert documentary, One Direction: This is Us, was the weekend's biggest movie with $17 million, a better debut than similar films focused on the Jonas Brothers and Katy Perry but worse than those for Justin Bieber ($33 million), Hannah Montana ($31 million) and Michael Jackson ($23 million). It's also grossed more than every other Morgan Spurlock film combined, no surprise considering their very limited releases and less mainstream subject matter. The next best performing new film was Spanish-language comedy Instructions Not Included, which opened at fifth and managed to make $7.5 million in only 374 theaters. Higher-profile limited release Closed Circuit only made about $2.5 million in 870 theaters. Getaway crashed into ninth place with $4.5 million.

The Butler, We're the Millers, and Planes took the third, fourth and fifth places. They and Elysium all experienced very minor drops of about 10% or less. In America, Millers should become the summer's second most successful comedy following The Heat. Percy Jackson had a low 16% drop. Though it's sure to disappoint domestically, it's reached $54 million and $137 million worldwide. Other interesting worldwide benchmarks include Pacific Rim reaching $400 million (only $100 million coming from America) and Jurassic Park breaking $1 billion with help from its 3D rerelease. See how other movies performed here.8/3 Update: One Direction actually topped the 3-day weekend with only $15.8 million, and is expected to come in second to The Butler's $20 million throughout the entire Labor Day weekend. It had a big Friday and steadily dropped throughout the weekend, which seems to have skewed analysts' projections. See the 4-day Labor Day weekend estimates here.